Miss Elizabeta's Home
by Mistress Kyouku
Summary: This is the story of a young orphan girl who disconnects herself from people after the loss of her most beloved family member and is moved to the last place that could reconnect her to the world. This place is an orphanage known as Miss Elizabeta's Home for Children on Their Own.


A car drove up a gravelly road on the mountainside of Hungary. The car was big and black with tinted windows, the kind driven by the government officials. As unfit as this car looked to the scenery, the car was the kind most driven up this road. For this was the road to the orphanage known as "Miss Elizabeta's Home for Children on Their Own". An orphanage known for taking in only the most broken of children.

Inside the car sat a small blonde Liechtensteiner, no older than 9, by the name of Erika Zwingli. She's currently been sitting in this car for most of the day, as the adults taking her to this orphanage have been trying to get her to finally open up. They've tried to have her live in three different orphanages, slowly getting farther and farther from her old home. In each orphanage she just sits on the floor, staring at her hands and clutching her brothers old hat. She wont eat, sleep, or even move unless she's forced to. Each home has had to turn her away, for she can't be helped by the adults working there.

The last orphanage she was in, she stole the sharpest scissors from the highest cabinet and just stood there with the scissors pointed at herself until someone found her. When one of the women who worked there, in a panic, tried to talk her into giving her the scissors, Erika just stared up at her with an empty look. Then she opened the scissors in one swift movement, chopping off her two long braids, so her hair would look just like her brothers.

After that happened, she was immediately called to be moved to a better home. The social workers realized there was only one place left for them to take the girl, because it was their only option left. She was then packed into a car and moved for the fourth time that month. Nobody could look her in the eye anymore without feeling uneasy under her dead gaze. They brought her to all of the best therapist they could try, but not one could get her to even open her mouth. She wouldn't speak to anyone and wouldn't eat unless left completely alone, and even then it was hardly anything.

As the car pulled up to the building, not a sound was made in the car, until the social worker in the passenger's seat decided to speak. "Miss Zwingli, we are at your new home. Please try to settle in this time and listen to Miss Héderváry." said Miss Emma, the blonde social worker who has been assigned to help Erika.

Erika hardly even moves, and the only way Miss Emma could tell she heard her was because of the seat belt retracting. Miss Emma only sighs and gets out of the car, walking to the front door of the building and knocking. She looks to her right, where Erika appears and is accompanied by the driver Abel, who watches Erika like a hawk so she doesn't make any attempts to run, like many other children have done.

Soon, there are footsteps heard coming towards the door and Erika tenses slightly, afraid who might be coming to the door. As the door is opened, there stood a man with neat dark brown hair, except for a cowlick sticking up in the front of his hair. He had pale skin with a single beauty mark slightly below and to the right of his mouth and glasses.

"Yes?" The man asks, with a raised eyebrow and a look on his face that says he has better things to do than stand there.

Miss Emma only smiles and adjusts her headband on her golden shoulder length hair. "Hello sir, I am Ms. Emma Dubois and I am here with the agency so Miss Zwingli can join your.. family!" She says, trying to cheer up her sentence at the end. "May we come in?"

The man's eyes widened in realization and nods, moving out of the way for them to come in. "I am Roderich Edelstein, I help run this establishment with Ms. Héderváry." He shut the door after everyone came inside then took lead again. "I will bring you into the sitting room while I go get her. She happens to be attending to our youngest child, Emil." He walks them into the sitting room and looks to Erika as he speaks, "Please be seated and I will be back in a moment."

Erika watches him walk out of the room, then slowly looks around, trying to take in her environment. Finally, she deems the room acceptable enough to sit in and sits in the chair the farthest away from the other chairs. As she sits and waits, she can't help but clutch her brothers hat tighter, trying to feel him protecting her.

 _Erika shakes as she hides in an alleyway. She can hear screams and can smell nothing but blood and smoke. She coughs, trying to get her breathing back to normal. Her hands are covered in cuts and burns, but she can hardly feel it with all of the fear and adrenaline rushing through her. Suddenly she remembers, "BASCH!" she screams with all her might._

"Erika!" Erika realizes someone's shaking her and finally comes back to reality. She looks up at Miss Emma's worried face and finally realizes she's been crying and shaking. "Erika! Erika what happened?! You started shaking and crying and then you screamed Basch-!" Suddenly it dawned upon Miss Emma, 'She was having a flashback'.

Erika pulled herself away from Miss Emma once she's finally pulled herself together and wipes her tears away. Abel just puts his hand on Miss Emma's shoulder and shakes his head as if to say 'Let it go Emma'. Sighing, Miss Emma nods and steps back from Erika, then decides to sit back down. Finally, Miss Elizabeta walks in holding a baby with hair so light it almost looks gray. Behind her is Roderich, who is holding a small boy with auburn hair and a big out of place curl.

"I'm so sorry it took me so long to come see you. I was helping Emil here", she nods to the baby, "when Feliciano started to need help, so Roderich and I had to help calm him down." She smiles to them and then sat down. "Anyway, welcome to my house Miss Zwingli, I am Miss Elizabeta Héderyvár and I will be your caretaker while you're here." Erika only stares at the woman, though Miss Elizabeta doesn't seem fazed in the slightest. "Would you like to meet the rest of the children, Erika?" Erika only shrugs lightly. "Alright! Roderich, why don't you wake Feliciano and take those two upstairs to meet the rest of the children!" Miss Elizabeta says with a smile.

Roderich nods and stands, whispering in Feliciano's ear and beckoning for Erika to follow. Slowly, Erika gets up from her seat and follows the man out of the room. "Feliciano, wake up. We have a new friend for you to meet and it would be rude for you to ignore her." Slowly, the boy opens his eyes and rubs them, then stares up at Roderich with big brown eyes. "N-new friend?" He asked as he finally woke up and soaked in what Roderich said.

Roderich lowers him to the ground in front of Erika. "Yes Feliciano, this is Miss Erika Zwingli. She will be living here with us now and I would like you to make her feel at home."

Feliciano's eyes brightened immediately and a grin spreads across his face. "Ciao Miss Erika! Let's go upstairs and you can meet all of my friends! You can meet my brother too! He's kind of grumpy but he doesn't mean it!", the boy rambles as he grabs Erika's hand. Any other words the young Italian said, fell on deaf ears as Erika stands there frozen. She hasn't let anybody hold her hand, not since her brother.

 _Erika felt hot tears run down her face as she ran out of the alleyway. 'I have to find him!' she screamed in her head. Finding Basch was all she could think about as she ran through a crowd towards the burning building. She pushed past as fast as she could, but it never felt fast enough. Suddenly she's grabbed by the arm and pulled away from the building. "No! LET ME GO! I HAVE TO GET TO BASCH!"_

Suddenly, she was brought back into reality by Feliciano hugging her as tightly as his small frame could. Erika could feel herself shaking in Feliciano's arms. She wanted to break free, but she couldn't. She was too broken and tired to fight it anymore.

With a gentle touch, Roderich pulled Feliciano off of her. "Why don't we go upstairs? Is that okay Erika?" he said in a soft voice. Erika only nodded slowly and walked up the stairs. Feliciano tried to rush to her, but Roderich held him back. "She needs time Feliciano, just give her space." Roderich said softly. Feliciano nods, trying to understand what she needs as best as his little head can comprehend and walks with Roderich up the stairs.

Finally as they reach the top of the stairs, Roderich took lead again and brought them into the children's playroom. "Children, come here and meet Miss Erika please, she will be living here with us from now on and I want you to all make her feel comfortable." Roderich said.

This caught the children's attention and they all looked to the door, staring at the new comer. Feeling all of the eyes on her, Erika shifted and tried to hide her face. Roderich caught on to how uncomfortable she was and he cleared his throat. "Stop staring and come here please." he said as he gave the children a look telling them they better listen.

Slowly, the children walked over one by one and came over. As they came over, Erika looked up towards them. Roderich smiled and walked over to the children, slowly telling Erika their names. She listened intently and looked over each child as Roderich said their names. First was Arthur with the messy blond hair, big eyebrows and emerald eyes. Second was Natalya, with the long, straight blonde hair, blue eyes and a cold expression. Then there was Feliciano's brother Lovino, their only different being Lovino's hair is a shade darker, with a curl on his left instead of his right, and Lovino's scowl. After him was Raivis, with a small, shaking frame, dirty blond hair, blue eyes and a small smile.

But the one that really caught Erika's attention was the last one to be introduced. He was a big built blond boy, hair combed back, and blue eyes. His face looking like it's stuck in a stoic expression. It reminded her so much of- "Big Brother".

Everybody's eyes widened when Erika's eyes welled up with tears and ran to the boy, Ludwig, and clung to him for dear life.

To say Ludwig was shocked was an understatement. He was never one for physical contact. Hell, his brother was the only one he ever hugged and he could still count the number of times he's initiated the hugs on his fingers. Now, this frail blonde girl who he's only just met is clinging onto him and crying into his shirt. His brain raced in a panic to try and figure out what to do.

Ludwig finally came back to reality when Erika was pulled off of him by Miss Elizabeta. Miss Elizabeta smiles sadly at Ludwig, "Erika has just lost her brother and it seems you remind her of him."

Once she said that, Ludwig felt a pain in his chest. He knew exactly what it felt like to lose your big brother. Ludwig looked over at the young girl as she hid behind Miss Elizabeta. "I understand. She did no harm."

Miss Elizabeta smiles and nods towards him. She knew that Ludwig would understand. "Natalya, why don't you show Erika to your room? Try and help her get comfortable while I go finish up any last paper work." Miss Elizabeta said with a smile. The Belorussian blonde nods and motions for Erika to follow her out of the room.

As the two girls walk out of the room, Erika can't help but stare at the ground out of shyness. Being the only other girl there, other than Miss Elizabeta, Erika was afraid Natalya wouldn't like her. Erika started to be pulled into a whirlpool of anxiety when Natalya snapped her out of her thoughts.

"I know how you feel.. Missing your big brother." Natalya said in a monotone voice. Erika's eyes widened from what Natalya said as they arrived at their bedroom. "Our bedroom has four beds, you can pick whichever one you want, other than mine." Natalya nods to Erika and walks over to her bed. Slowly, Erika moves to the bed next to Natalya's and lays down. Natalya looks over at Erika for a moment then stares up at the ceiling.

As Erika laid in her bed, all she could think about is what Natalya had said to her. Maybe she wasn't as alone as she thought.


End file.
